Mark Rothko Art Centre Celebrates the Artist’s 111th Anniversary

The outstanding artist Mark Rothko’s 111th birthday will be marked by several events in Ziedonis Hall of the Latvian National Library in Riga and at the Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre from the 23rd to 25th of September. The series of events, titled “Rothko Train from Riga to Daugavpils”, is part of the “Thirst for the Ocean” thematic line of the “Riga 2014” Programme.

Any person may apply by filling out the form here. Applications will be accepted until the 16th of September.

The Rothko project will open with the exhibition “Digital and Printed Phenomenon” at the EU House in Riga (ground floor), on show from the 15th to 30th of September.

On the 17th of September, Imants Ziedonis Hall at the Latvian National Library will host a film-lecture about Mark Rothko and his artistic heritage.

During a concert in the Latvian National Library’s Imants Ziedonis Hall on the 23rd of September, a chamber orchestra made up of the best Latvian musicians and conducted by Mārtiņš Ozoliņš will perform English composer James Clarke’s opuses Untitled No. 1 and a new composition – 2014-N, written specifically for this event.

The international conference “Abstract Expressionism: The Language of Emotions” will be held in Riga and Daugavpils on the 23rd and 25th of September. Acclaimed art critics and artists inspired by Rothko will travel to the conference from Paris, New York, London, Madrid, São Paulo and Moscow, including the leading Rothko researcher, British art historian Dr. David Anfam, colour perception psychology researcher Sanford Wurmfeld from New York, Russian art curator and critic Victor Misiano, professor of Architecture Walter Unterrainer from Aarhus, French academician Annie Cohen Solal with a presentation of the Latvian version of a book dedicated to Mark Rothko, as well as both artist’s children Christopher Rothko and Kate Rothko Prizel.

On the 24th of September, Rothko Train “Laboratory of Silence” will travel from Riga to Daugavpils, where the passengers will have opportunity to participate in a multimedia drama of Rothko.

Multimedia performance “Rothko Inspires” will be in the evening of the 24th of September in Daugavpils – a symbiosis of contemporary art, music and multimedia that will reach culmination at midnight.

The conference “Abstract Expressionism: The Language of Emotions” will continue on the 25th of September at the Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre, where autumn season exhibitions will also open on the same day. One of these exhibitions, the unique project “Contemporary Painting of Latvia” will present both common and distinct features of contemporary Latvian paintings by Sigita Daugule, Jānis Dukāts, Andris Eglītis, Daiga Krūze, Viktorija Valujeva, Andris Vītoliņš and Otto Zitmanis. In addition, works of Irish painter Kristina Huxley will also be displayed, as well as an exhibition of British artist Peter Griffin and final exhibition of the international residency “Mark Rothko 2014”.